> -----Original Message-----
> From: macrakis at gmail.com [mailto:macrakis at gmail.com] On Behalf Of Stavros
> Macrakis
> Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 9:16 AM
> To: fateman at cs.berkeley.edu
> Subject: Re: [Maxima] limit needs some batteries?
>
> > 1. The problem of telling if a particular expression is zero or not is
> not
> > solvable algorithmically for all expressions that can be produced in
> Maxima.
> > Both limit and tlimit need such an algorithm.
>
> Clearly you can't do it completely generally (Richardson). But there
> must be some theorem about the form of Taylor series of algebraic
> expressions of trigonometric functions and base variables.
I doubt it.
The coefficients in a Taylor series may include arbitrary functions; all you
know is that they are derivatives of something. I do not see why that should
make solving the zero-equivalence problem easier.
RJF